Indian Muslims are nationalists who oppose terror: Rajnath Singh

Lucknow: Contending that terrorism should not be associated with any particular religion, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said Muslims in India are nationalists who have always opposed terrorist elements.He lauded India's Muslims for

Lucknow: Contending that terrorism should not be associated with any particular religion, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said Muslims in India are nationalists who have always opposed terrorist elements.

He lauded India's Muslims for not allowing fundamentalist groups like ISIS to influence them.

Responding to questions here after an event, he said terrorism should not be associated with a particular religion.

"Muslims in India are nationalists. They have always opposed such (terror) elements. They have opposed and demoralised them," the Union Home Minister said.

He said several countries in the world are facing the menace of terrorism and they should fight unitedly against it.

To a question regarding naxalism, Singh said, "Though I don't believe in the figures, if one focusses on last 10 to 15 years, then there has been a decline of 20 per cent to 25 per cent in the last one year."

With regard to questions being raised by opposition over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign visits, Singh said all his predecessors have travelled abroad but the "warm welcome" accorded to Modi showed that the country's goodwill and prestige is rising.

"The questions being raised over PM's foreign visits are unfortunate. All PMs including Manmohan Singh have undertaken foreign visits. The warm welcome being accorded to PM Modi is evidence that the country's goodwill and prestige is rising. The world has started taking India seriously," Singh said on the sidelines of a programme organised by Mahamana Madan Mohan Malviya Mission.

Earlier, addressing the function, he said great personalities should not be associated with any particular party and Mahamana should have been conferred with Bharat Ratna long back for the contribution he made.

"By establishing Banaras Hindu University, Mahamana made an important contribution in linking traditional knowledge with modern science," he said.

He also discussed about personality and contribution of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

In another programme when asked about Mumbai serial blast mastermind Dawood Ibrahim, Singh said he had already made a statement in Parliament.